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Try to Remember

When Caitlyn Jackson, 12, died after a years-long battle with leukemia, many of her friends came to school wearing shirts they had designed to honor her memory. The shirts were blue (Jackson’s favorite color) and orange (the official color honoring leukemia victims) and decorated — many with Caitlyn’s name. But when school administrators decided they wouldn’t allow shirts with Caitlyn’s name to be worn, they failed to notify anybody. Students wearing the shirts arrived at school, and were told to turn them inside out. “That hurt me to the point that I didn’t think I could be hurt anymore,” said Caitlyn’s mom, Melinda. Lakeview administrator Amy Jones explained the decision came from the school’s “crisis management plan,” which she said is “based on a lot of research and expert opinion.” The plan bans “permanent memorials” based on research that indicates memorials can make grief worse and administrators decided shirts with Caitlyn’s name fell into this category. “Certainly the intent of our decision was good,” Jones said. “Probably the ramifications of our decision caused more disruption than if we had let kids wear the shirts in the first place.” (MS/Battle Creek Enquirer) ...Apparently it will take “research” by “experts” to remove the “probably.”